Monday, May 23, 2022

San Francisco's Gay All-Male Burlesque, BALONEY, Laid Bare in Expertly Choreographed Doc on VOD June 7th

13th Gen and Gravitas Ventures are proud to present 
Baloney, Joshua Guerci's no-holds-barred documentary chronicling 18 months in the life of Baloney, a mostly male, mostly naked, very erotic San Francisco burlesque troupe. The clothing optional documentary made its world premiere at Frameline and went on to inspire audiences at Outfest Los Angeles, Seattle Queer Film Festival, Cinema Diverse Palm Springs, Winnipeg Reel Pride Film Festival, TLVFest: Tel Aviv LGBT Film Festival, Boston Wicked Queer LGBTQ+ Film Festival, and Tampa Bay International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. At RuPaul's DragCon Los Angeles, the film is nominated for Best Documentary.

Baloney debuts June 7 across North America and will be available on a number of digital and cable platforms, including iTunes, Amazon Video, Vudu, Spectrum, and inDemand.

Baloney was directed, produced and shot by Joshua Guerci in his feature debut. Marc Smolowitz (Being BeBeTransfinite) produced.

Queer artist Michael Phillis realized that “his worst day as an artist was still better than his best day as a tech manager.” So, he quit his day job, not just to create art, but to connect with other artists, many of whom work in jobs similar just to cover the cost of living in America's expensive queer mecca.

Thus, Baloney, the performance troupe, was born -- a classic variety show combined with burlesque, using theater, dance, and strip tease to explore and celebrate queer sexuality and life experience. Michael, together with his life partner Rory Davis, have been delighting and surprising audiences for years, and this documentary offers up an under-the-covers look at the real life people who create and perform the show, and a behind the scenes view into all of the hard work that goes into putting on this powerful and beautifully produced professional theatrical production.

With Baloney about to be released to the world, co-creators Michael Phillis and Rory Davis shared, "After doing the show live onstage for the past 8 years, it's thrilling to see Baloney reach an international audience through Joshua's documentary. Our hope is that young queer adults will see the movie, connect to the show, and know that they're not alone. There's a wonderful world of underground queer performance out there and your chosen family is waiting for you."